Thoughts and observations about Modesto and Stanislaus County

No Water Sale- No Amount…Comments Delivered by a Concerned Citizen

The following was spoken, and a copy presented for the record to the Modesto Irrigation District and the Modesto City

Forecast San Francisco Study #2 (Photo credit: davidyuweb)

Council on July 9, 2013. It followed a piece by the Modesto Bee Editorial staff which chided MID for not completing the water sale to San Francisco.

The main topic at the Modesto Council meeting that night was the decision to allow Fitzpatrick Homes to built a new subdivision consisting of 533 homes/apartments and whether or not Modesto had enough water for the addition.

NO WATER SALE – NO AMOUNT

By Joan Rutschow

According to MID’s Proposed Contract any water sale by MID to San Francisco will:

*Be permanent. It WILL forfeit MID water rights.

*It is not a “drop in the bucket”. It is for all our water. San Francisco gains “first right of refusal” for all of our water.

*Will breach an existing contract for drinking water with the City of Modesto. Modesto will sue MID for Breach of Contract. MID will possibly incure $1,000,000 per year in litigation costs, thus wiping out the income from the first 2,240 acre foot sale.

*Will sell water MID does not have to sell. From MID’s own data they are currently over contracted by 88,000 acre feet. That is nearly 3 times the size of the Modesto Reservoir.

*How can there be any water to sell if the City of Modesto has been on rationing for 10 years?

*San Francisco will get their water no matter what the availability is. If there is a drought, like right now, San Francisco will always get their water first.

*Will generate $19 million to MID for unfunded pension liabilities. Not a dime will be spent on infrastructure. Read the contract on MID’s website. Exhabit D. http://www.mid.org/about/newswroom/projects/watertransfer/documents/MIDwatertransfer2012.pdf

*Will COST MODESTO $200,000,000 PER YEAR in lost community revenue.

*Violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In doing so, this will precipitate numerous lawsuits. It will make San Francisco the “lead agency” on our water forever.

*San Francisco DOES NOT NEED THE WATER. They are currently over produced by 29%. They forecast not needing additional water until the year 2035.